​St. Louis police officers Ronald Jackson and Christian Brezill have been indicted on charges of theft of government property, after allegedly stealing stolen merchandise after an arrest, Acting United States Attorney Michael W. Reap announced today.

According to the indictment, Jackson and Brezill were uniformed patrol officers assigned to work in the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department's Sixth District out of the North Patrol Division. They were responsible for collecting, preserving and inventorying evidence; interviewing witnesses; making lawful arrests; conducting lawful searches; and making truthful and accurate reports of their official activities.

The indictment alleges that on July 27, 2009, Jackson was on duty when he received information from an individual that "Jane Doe" was in possession of electronics equipment stolen from the retailer Best Buy, and was in a vehicle on the parking lot of the Phillips 66 station at 5728 West Florissant Avenue.

Jackson agreed with the individual that he would find Jane Doe, seize the stolen electronics equipment from her vehicle, and split some of the stolen electronics equipment with that individual.

Jackson then shared that information with Brezill, who was also on duty and they both drove their police vehicles to the Phillips 66 station to meet Jane Doe. Jackson and Brezill did a computer check on Doe, discovered that she had outstanding minor traffic warrants, arrested her on those traffic warrants, and placed her handcuffed into Brezill's police vehicle.

They searched the trunk of Doe's vehicle and discovered electronics equipment, in original boxes and in Best Buy store bags, including a Sony speaker system, a Phillips I-Pod docking system, speaker cable, a Wii gaming system, an X-Box gaming system, a Logitech computer speaker system, a Dell Inspiron laptop computer, and a Dynex LCD flat screen television.

Jackson and Brezill removed all of the electronics equipment from Doe's vehicle, and placed the items into the trunk of Brezell's police vehicle. They then conveyed Jane Doe to the North Patrol Division where she was booked on the outstanding minor traffic warrants. Doe was neither arrested nor charged relative to her possession of the electronics equipment.

According to the indictment, Jackson and Brezill failed to report to the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, either verbally or in writing, their seizure of the electronics equipment from Jane Doe's vehicle.